


Untitiled Max story

by SodaMilkz



Series: HellBound [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25493413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SodaMilkz/pseuds/SodaMilkz
Summary: A small demon just wants to roll in dirt all day
Series: HellBound [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822396





	1. The Beast

It ran.  
It ran as fast as it could.

It didn’t know where it was running, but it knew from what.

The beast danced its way around the trees, leaping over every obstacle in its way with no effort. It’s large furry main picked up sticks and leaves as it bounced through the thick brush. Its lungs burned, begging for a rest, but it had no time. It could still tell the hunters where on its tail, getting closer with every second. Stopping wasn’t an option. It didn’t want to go back. It wasn’t going back. 

The beast jumped from the top of a small hill. Majestically it spread its large black bat like wings. It began desperately flapping them, trying its best to take off with no avail. It fell back down to the earth below with a large thud. It growled in frustration, angry with itself for not knowing how to fly. Without wasting another second the beast took off running again. It had no time to waste.

The woods were massive, well over 100 acres, maybe even bigger. The beast was running threw the thick of it. It was filled with rocks, trees, bushes, caves, leaves, sticks, dirt, grass, ponds, lakes, and most importantly life. Everywhere you looked you could see some sort of animal. Big or small, predator or prey, this forest was full of life. It was exactly where the beast longed to be. It wanted nothing more than to stay here forever, but first it had to run. 

The monsters that were hunting it were just that, monsters. Their wings, horns, and tails were the least scary thing about them. Their matching uniforms and big gun like weapons made them the scary men they were. It knew their shared goal. Catch it and bring it back. While the men were fast, making use of their powerful wings, the beast was faster. 

Though it didn’t know these woods, it knew the woods, and how to effortlessly maneuver around them. Even if it didn’t have eyes it didn’t need them to know where to go. This wasn’t the first time it ran through a patch of forest in fear. 

This was maybe the beast's six escape attempt. The early attempts were short lived, getting caught almost immediately, but every attempt got more promising. Getting out for longer and longer building up to now. This was the longest it had gotten out, almost a full day, and it wasn’t stopping now. 

Without thinking beast skidded to a sudden stop. Its large ears poked up from behind it's even larger horns. It heard something, something strange. Without knowing better it began to run towards the sound. As it got closer it stopped again, picking up a new unfamiliar but incredibly interesting scent. It forgot about running as curiosity completely took over. It bent its head down, its large nose now sniffing the dirt. It began following the scent. The beast didn’t notice when it had begun to wander into a grassy field, leaving the safety of the trees behind. 

It kept its head down, sniffing its way through the short grass, completely distracted from its original threat. It ran into something stopping it in the middle of the field, breaking it from its fixation. It took a moment for the beat to realize it had run into a pair of boots. It glanced up to find a rather annoyed looking lady looking down at it. 

The beast jumped back from fear. The owner of the boots was a tall old adult lady. She wore a black cloak around her shoulders with a matching pointy hat on her head. In her arms was a basket of grass with some other plants.

“Watch where you're going” She snapped, completely unfazed by the beast or its appearance, just merely annoyed it as it bumped into her, interrupting her work.

She looked at the pink beast which was now recoiled back, its poisonous scorpion tail up, ready to attack if needed. The beast tried it’s best to look fierce, baring its teeth. The lady was taken back, not because it was scary, but because it wasn’t.

Though the beast had no eyes, she could tell that it was terrified, and something about it felt young. Much younger than she expected it to be. She began to feel bad for it. Their standoff was interrupted by a man shouting in the distance. They both quickly looked back at the woods, towards the direction of the shout. 

“Oh” 

\-----------------------------------------------------

“Guys over here!!!” One of the men shouted.

The four of them had been chasing after this girl for almost a day now, and all of them were sick of it. Three of the men wore a typical matching uniform, all carrying a crossbow-like weapon loaded with a dart. The other man was taller than the rest, he wore a white lab coat and carried no weapon. All of them had horns, wings, and a tail, all in various sizes and colours. They immediately made their way out the woods towards the field.

Once they arrived at the center of the field they found the beast fallen on its side with a large sword sticking out its middle next to a large bloody gash. All the men were taken back, disgusted at the site, but the tallest of them wore a small smile, amused.

“What the-”

“A WITCH” One of the men shouted, he seemed to be in charge. They all aimed their crossbows at the lady standing next to the slane beast.

“Whoa calm down boys, not even an introduction?” She raised her hands up lazily, already tired of the group of men.

“We are members of the Hell Guard” another man spoke up, “Who are you?” 

“Witch Diana Ruby, member of the nothing” She rolled her eyes, putting her hands back down on her sides.

“Well Ms.Ruby” The leader took charge again, “We’ll just take her and be on our way” He gestured to the pink manticore laying still on the ground.

“Oh no you’re not!” Diana interjected, pissed, “I killed it, I keep it” 

“What?” The leader asked sharply.

“Yeah” She doubled down, “It attacked me, so I killed it, besides” she bent down and stroked its large main, “Its fur is just what I need for a potion” 

The leader looked over at the stand out man in the white lab coat, “Doctor she can't be serious” 

The doctor said nothing, face emotionless, walking over to the beast. He looked over it, assessing its large wound. He nodded, “Yes, she’s dead, no point in bringing her back now” He stood back up, walking back over to the group, “Besides I have much more pressing matters to take care of back down in Hell as I’m sure you all know” 

The men were all visibly confused, but no one dared question the doctor, they took his word as truth.

“Ok then” The leader spoke, uncertainty in his voice, “lets go boys”

“Oh thank god” another member said in relief, “That brat’s been the bane of my existence for a year” They all took off in the sky, back towards the woods, except the doctor.

The doctor looked back at Diana, the small amused smile had come back on his face, “Take good care of her, the fur I mean, it can be a lot and quite” He paused for a moment thinking, “messy”.

Diana could tell he knew what was up, but she was still slightly confused by the comment, “Oh uhh yeah, I’ll take good care of her” she said with a equally warm but awkward smile

The doctor gave them both a nod before taking off after the group of guards. It was just Diana and the still beast in the grass.


	2. The girl

Diana took a sigh of relief the moment the doctor had left. She pulled the sword out of the manticores burgundy main, using it to block the sun from her eyes as she looked up at the sky (yes she has a hat shut up). 

“Ok, they’re gone” She said, lowering the sword to her side.

The beast lifted its head, looking around before fully standing up. The large gash on its side healed instantly as it did so. While the manticore was otherworldly it was still the size of a normal adult lion, so Diana was actually taller than it.

‘Strange’ Diana thought to herself. She’d seen many monsters like this before, but this one was so abnormally small, even if it was the size of a lion. She could tell it was young, but not how young.

While the beast was taking note of the sky Diana walked over and cut a piece of its furry main with her sword. The beast pulled back in protest but it was too late, she already had a lock of its fur. 

“That is for getting those guys off your tail” She said, placing the fur in her basket next to the other plants. She waved the sword in the air, and in a flash it turned into a simple wooden wand, with that she placed it in her hat. 

“Hey that's not fair!! I coulda taken em on my own!!!” 

Diana looked back to find a small girl where the beast once stood. She was completely taken back, speechless.

The girl wore simple overalls with a messy somewhat torn t-shirt underneath with no shoes. She had scrapes and bruises dotted around her red/pink skin. Her large bull like horns had a red hue at the tip along with her tail that had a normal triangle tip. Her horns seemed small in comparison to her hair. Her dark pink/purple hair was almost the size of her. It was curly, covered in sticks and leaves. However her most stand out feature was how small she was. She was barely half the height of Diana.

Diana expected this demon to be young, but not this young. She looked no older than 10, maybe even younger. Diana immediately began to feel sorry for her.

‘How does a kid so young end up in Hell?’   
“What” the girl snapped, she didn’t like that Diana had been staring for so long.

“So” Diana started, “what are you going to do now?” She was genuinely curious.

The girl looked around, “I don't really know, anything I guess I’ve never gotten this far” She said truthfully, “Imma go look for frogs!!”. The girl began walking away towards the forest, but was stopped by a sudden hand grabbing her arm.

“Wait” Diana said

The girl jumped back instinctively, hissing loudly as she did so, pulling her arm away from the grip. Diana quickly noticed her mistake, taking steps backwards to put some distance between them. The last thing she wanted to do was scare her.

“Im sorry” She said honestly, trying to remain calm, “Why don't you come hang out with me?”

“EWW” The girl said quickly, “Why would I want to spend another minute with adults, all of you suck butt” She hissed.

“Well I helped you get away from those guys didn’t I?” Diana pointed out, hoping to gain any trust she could. She knew that was going to be hard, but she wasn’t going to give up on her and leave her here alone. That wasn’t fair.

“Yeah so?” She clearly wasn’t impressed, “Like I said I coulda taken them all on my own!!!” She puffed out her chest, trying to appear strong. Diana very much doubted that, but she wasn’t going to crush her facade.

“Well why don't you spend just one night with me?” Diana offered, “I'm sure you're tired from out running them all morning” She was trying her best to sound inviting.

“Nu-uh” She shook her head, “I don’t need adults, adults are stupid”. She began walking away again.

“Hmm” Diana had to think for a moment, “Oh well, I guess I’ll just go home and play with all my frogs by myself”

This caught the demon girls attention, stopping her march away. She looked back at Diana, “you have frogs?!” Her voice was filled with excitement for the first time. 

“Yep” Diana went on, “the lake nearby is full of them, and they are all over my property. It comes in handy for all my magical needs”

“NO!” The girl yelled in protest, running up to the witch, “You don’t kill them do you?” 

“Oh no no” Diana explained, “I just need their slime and spit and eye juice” 

“Oh gross!!” The girl said, full of excitement, giving a full smile as she did.

“Oh it's so gross” Diana agreed with just as much excitement, “Do you want to see?”

“Hecky yes I want to see!!” She said bouncing up and down. Any opposition to being with the adult witch had been cast aside in favor of frogs.

While it wasn’t exactly trust Diana would take it. As long as this young girl wouldn’t be alone in the woods tonight it worked. Demon or not, it wasn’t right to just leave her here. 

“Great my cabin is-”

“I’ll beat you there!!!” With that the girl transformed back into the manticore from before, and took off in a random direction towards the trees. Flying past Diana without hesitation. 

Diana smiled, “other way” 

The beast ran by again, this time going the other direction

“Still wrong” She laughed. Demon or not, kids are kids.

The beast walked back over and sat down in front of Diana in defeat. 

“Come on, I’ll show the way” She smiled.

The beast gave up, turning back into the same girl from before, “I totally would have found it on my own” She boasted as they both began to walk into the woods.

“Oh I know you could” She paused, “huh I don't know your name” 

“Oh my name is Max!” Max said triumphantly. 

“Max? What a great name” Diana said, agreeing in a way. It fit her perfectly. 

“I know!!!” Max exclaimed following closely along, “I thought of it all on my own!!!” 

They walked out of the grassy field into the forest. Diana led the way to a small elephant path that she knew well. The cabin was a short 10 minute walk from the field, the perfect amount of time to get to know Max. Diana had questions, and Max had her own special answers.

“You know” Diana started, “I’ve never seen a demon quite like you before”

“I know aren't I cool!!!” Max stated, “Not every demon is a cool colour like me!!!” 

“Really?” Diana knew basic things about demons, but had never heard of ones with pink skin.

“Yeah! Im super special, one in a quatrillion!” She proudly explained. As they walked Max jumped on every log she could walk along on, before jumping down to find another rock or log to walk on next. Diana just stuck to the trail, keeping an eye on Max, just to make sure she didn’t wonder the wrong way. 

“Is your cool monster form a part of you being super special?” Diana had seen many mythical beasts before, but she’d never seen a demon with a form like that. Most demons had a generic monster as their beasts form, not something specific like a manticore. 

“Yeah isn’t it awesome!!” she bounced along the path, “It such a cool lion thing, its super big and strong” 

“Can you do anything else that’s special?” 

“Uh” this was the only question that stumped Max. She took a moment thinking hard, “Not now, no one ever told me how to use stuff like fire, but I don't need them. I'll learn on my own!!” Her confidence returned without effort.

“Oh, well how old are you?” Finally Diana got to ask the question that had been burning in her mind since she first met her minutes ago.

“I think I'm 7? I never kept count” Max happily replied, unfazed by the question or the response. Diana however was not. How does a 7 year old end up in Hell? She knew the answer but she still wanted to ask, “Do you know how you died?”. 

“Yeah!!”

“Really?” Now this was surprising.

“Totally” Max climbed on top of a large rock, “I went out fighting a pack of wolves, trying to save a family of small bunnies!!” She stated without hesitation, raising her firsts to the sky. Diana couldn’t help but give her a smile, a soft warm smile. There was nothing like childlike innocence. 

Max put her arms down, “I think” she admitted, “I'm sure it was super epic and cool and it definitely happened in a forest”. The fact she was dead didn’t bother her one bit. She jumped off the rock and continued on the way. 

Diana didn’t know what to say. She knew Max wouldn’t remember, no demon remembers how they die, but she didn’t expect Max to be so ok with it. Let alone talk about how “epic” it could have been. 

“Holy heck!!” Max shouted, running in front of Diana down the rest path. They had finally reached their destination. 

The path ended at a small clearing, in the middle of which had a simple cozy house. There was another small path off to the side that led to a nearby lake. The only thing unusual about the cabin at first glance was the fact the house and surrounding area was covered in frogs, hoping and croaking about. 

Max was in awe at the site, and Diana was reminded of how bad it was.

“There are so many FROGS!!!” She screamed, running to grab as many as she could.

Diana sighed, letting out an extremely un enthused, “yep”


	3. The witch

Max was running around her own personal heaven, chasing and carrying around as many frogs as she could. Diana was sitting on the porch, scratching her head with her wand while flipping through a large old book, not paying attention to Max at all. 

“Hehe why are there so many?!” Max giggled as she ran past.

“Uh” Diana started.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Earlier that day*  
Diana looked through the book on the lectern, adding bits and pieces of different herbs to a small cauldron sitting on the table.

“Ok that should do it” She said triumphantly. She grabbed a small bottle and scooped some of the liquid into it, before closing the top and shaking it. She pulled over a small frog sitting on a plate, “Ok now hold still” she said to the amphibian as she carefully poured a small drop of the potion on its head. The frog croaked and slightly changed colour to an unearthly green.

“Hhmm” Diana pulled out a large hammer and crushed the frog without hesitation. The frog flattened, then popped back up like nothing had happened, completely unharmed. 

“Yes!! It worked!!” She rejoiced.

After a moment the single frog split into two, then four, then eight.

“Oh shit” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That doesn't matter” Diana said firmly, shutting the large leather back book, standing up “Lets just gather them all up so we can get rid of them”

“WHat?” Max dropped her arm full of frogs, running over to Diana.

“humanely” Diana tacked on, “We’ll do it humanely”

“Mm ok, but I don’t know why you’d want to get rid of them” Max said picking up a nearby frog to pet, “They are so nice” 

“I guess” Diana started, “why don't you gather all the frogs in one place, you can even pick out one frog to keep, while I go work on a way to humanely get rid of them”

“Why don’t we just toss' em all in the lake?” Max asked, pointing to the nearby body of water.

“That would completely destroy the ecosystem” 

“Oh…..right” Max agreed, “welp frog hunting time!!” With that Max went back over to her original arm full of frogs and gathered them up again.

“Ok, be safe” Diana said, taking her book and basket of plants inside the cabin.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diana closed the door behind her, leaning against it taking a deep tired breath. She opened her eyes to the site of the amphibians hopping around. They were all over the furniture, jumping around as if they owned the place. Diana groaned, slowly making her way to the other room, trying to avoid the frogs as she went. To her surprise there were frogs in the kitchen as well, climbing in and out of the cabinets and swimming in the sink. 

“Why am I surprised?” She said to herself. She walked over to the dining room table, which was reworked into a crafting table for all her witch needs. She shooed the frogs off the table and set her basket down, placing the large book on the small lectern next to it. As Diana grabbed her wand from her hat the book flew open to seemingly a random page speaking as it did so, “You really messed up this time D”.

“Shut up” She quickly snapped, “Just show me how to undo this”. She looked down at the open page and groaned. She bent down to pick up the small table cauldron, hoisting it on the table.

“Let's get this over with”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max couldn’t remember a day that had been even close to as fun as this one. First she escaped the monsters, and now she got as many frogs as her still heart could desire. No one in Hell ever let her have fun, but this wasn’t Hell. This was heaven. This was the surface. 

From the day Max arrived in Hell, something called her to the surface world. She always felt that the grey cold rock and gravel under her feet wasn’t right. She tried more times than she could count to escape, and she finally did. She was finally free. 

As she chased the frogs she finally felt happy where she was. She felt like she belonged here. She wanted to stay here. With her pink skin under the sun and bare feet in the dirt, everything about this felt right. It wasn’t just that she was outside, but she also had a good feeling about this place. This small cabin in the woods, and the witch that lived in it. Something told her she belonged here. Though all these thoughts were pushed to the side in favor of hunting and catching all the frogs. 

Max jumped and leaped, catching all the frogs she could, without breaking a sweat. She dropped her last arm full of frogs into a large plastic bucket, counting as she did so, “245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250!” She stated proudly, placing the last frog down. “I wonder if-'' she was cut off by the sounds of ribbits and croaks from above. She turned around looking up, and sure enough there were at least two more arms full of frogs hopping on the roof.

“Oh HECK YEAH!!” Her eyes lit up in excitement, “but how do I get up there?” she quickly began to wonder. She looked around the area. There wasn’t a ladder or any easy way to climb up the wall. She couldn’t fly, maybe jump? Nah, the lion was too big and would crush the cabin. Her teal eyes landed on a tall tree, with a branch kinda hanging close to the house.

“Yes.” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diana heard a loud thud on the ceiling above her, “huh” she shrugged it off and continued stirring the pot with her wand. She grabbed some grass from her basket, pinched in between her fingers and sprinkled in as she stirred, while also reading over the book. 

“Flip,” she said.

“Why don’t you flip, you have hands” The book said sternly.

“My hands have been around a demon all day” 

“So”

“A demon child”

“OH GROSS DON’T TOUCH ME” The book quickly flipped the page without hesitation. 

Diana looked over the page, “Oh thank coven, almost done”, she rubbed her eyes and kept stirring. As she worked she couldn’t stop her mind from drifting to Max. Diana didn't quite know what to make of her. 

She didn’t even know someone so young could get sent to hell, or what they even had to do to qualify. However outside of her being a demon, Max was just like any other child with a love for the outdoors. Even though she couldn’t see Max right now Diana could tell that having her around was just better, even if it had only been a short time, things around here felt more complete. She wanted Max to stay here. Outside of her maternal side saying take care of the 8 year old lost in the woods, it just felt right. It was a hard feeling to put a name on.

She looked back over the book and breathed a sigh of relief, “oh thank coven this is the right fur”. She picked up the lock of fur she had cut off of Max’s main an hour before. She stopped, taking a moment to look at it. Its colour shined vibrantly, and it was soft to the touch. She took a smaller pinch in her other hand.

“Just a little bit of this and-” BANG, another crash coming from the roof above startled Diana, causing her to drop all the fur into the pot. She looked down at the pot as the fur sunk away, stirring, “I wanted to save some of that”.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max fell on the roof with a hard thud, “Yes!!! I'm a genius!” she jumped up on her feet. She managed to successfully climb up the tree and jump over to the roof with no effort. Did it hurt? Heck no. “Come here lil hoppers” She began walking around picking up as many frogs as she could. Her arms were quickly full of the strange animal.

“Uh” she looked at the bucket of frogs below, “i'm sure you’ll be fine” she said before she started tossing the frogs down. Each one landed perfectly in the bucket, unharmed. She did this a few more times, clearing the roof of any and all frogs. 

“I think that’s all of em” She said proudly, “Diana’s gonna be-” Max turned around and spotted one lone frog sitting on the other side of the roof. This one was different, it had an otherworldly green colour to it, and its eyes felt off, like it knew something. 

“Ooooo come here!” She said, quickly pouncing across the roof towards the small animal. Landing with another even louder thud, she looked at her hands. Empty?

“Wha” she quickly looked around, then felt a small movement on her head.

“Ribbit” The frog sat patiently on her head. She tried grabbing it but it avoided her hands with every hop. 

“......I like you” she said, giving up on the effort. 

“Max!!” a voice shouted from below.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Annnnd done!” Diana said as she finished pouring the newly made potion into a small bottle, topping it off with a cork lid. She whipped her wand down, glancing at a frog, “Soon you will be gone”.

She went around the small house gathering all the frogs she could find, putting them in a sack. Once she was done she made her way outside. She walked off the porch and was met with a large plastic bucket of frogs. Diana was stunned.  
She didn't own a bucket like this.

She shrugged it off, adding her own bag of frogs to the large tub. She looked around but didn’t see any trace of Max. She got worried, fearing she had run off on her own. Diana didn’t doubt Max could take care of herself in the forest. She was a demon, it wasn't like she was going to freeze to death or starve, but her being alone still didn’t sit right with Diana. 

“Max!” she shouted, looking every which way.

“Oh, hey Diana!” 

Diana looked up to find Max looking over the edge of the roof. She was so relieved. “Oh there you-” She paused, “how did you get up there?” 

“I climbed a tree” She said fear starting to grow in her voice slightly, “i'm sorry” 

“It's ok” She said, she wasn’t mad at all, just curious, “Now come down here so we can humanely get rid of these guys” she smiled.

Max effortlessly jumped down, landing on her bear feet, “what are we gonna do?”

“Well with this” Diana held up a bottle of purple glowing liquid, “We will simple make them, disappear”

“Oooo, what is that?” Max said, entranced by the mysterious liquid.

“This is a potion made from the rarest ingredients in the land stirred by stick made from pure magic in such a delicate processes that-”

Before she could finish, the frog on Max’s head hopped off, knocking the bottle out of Diana's hand onto the ground, shattering, spilling the liquid in the dirt. Diana didn’t even look down as Max tired to hold back a laugh, picking the frog back up.

“Ok you know what” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The elderly witch sat comfortably in her chair. The afternoon couldn’t have been more perfect for a cup of tea and a nice book, so she seized the opportunity to do just that. As she took a sip from her tea a large portal opened above her.

“Huh?” Before she could finish thinking, frogs frantically started pouring out of the portal, covering her and the surrounding room almost instantly. Just as fast as it happened, it stopped, the portal above her disappearing. 

“DIANA!!!!!!!!!!” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So where does this portal go?” Max asked as she casually dumped the frogs threw.

“Oh it goes to a perfect swamp land, a frog paradise, they’ll love it!” Diana laughed.

“Ok!!”


	4. The book

“Bye friends!” Max tossed the last frog threw the portal. The portal quickly closed as the last frog went through. All the frogs were gone, much to Diana’s relief. Max bent down, picking up the same teal frog from before, “and hello new friend!” she said. A moment later the frog jumped out of her hands and into her large hair, disappearing. 

“Cool!”

“So” Diana started, walking over to Max in the yard, “what are you going to do now?”

Max stood back up, “what do you mean?”

“Well there’s no more frogs here, so there’s no reason for you to stay” Diana said, trying to seem cool and calm.

“Oh” Max’s happiness faded slightly, “right”

“Unless you decided you wanted to stay anyway” Diana quickly tacked on.

“Hmm no, i'm good” Max began walking away into the woods, “Bye lady!” 

“Oh” that hurt more than she expected it to.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diana walked inside, kicking off her boots while placing her cloak and hat on the nearby coat rack. She sighed, feeling a little defeated inside.

“So did you get rid of those little buggers?” 

“Yep” she sighed, “did you get rid of that awful coffee stain?” 

“Aww those little guys actually kinda made me less angry at the world”

“Really?” Diana said, semi surprised as she made her way toward the table, towards the voice.

“Nope!!!” The book laughed.

“Ugh” she rolled her eyes, “why did I even come over here”.

“Because you’re lonely” If the book had a mouth it would have a stupid cocky grin on it, “The demon girl left didn’t she?” 

Diana was taken back, “How do you know that?” she said as she began to fill a pot with water, and placed it on the stove. She leaned against the counter, looking back at the book. 

It was a large leather back brown book resting on a lectern. There were 5 eyes on the cover, one in each corner and a large eye in the middle. It had metal fixing around the sides. It had no title, just a name written along the spine. Jamack.

“Well before I could sense a demon around here, and now I can’t, put two and two together annnd?”

“Yeah” Diana admitted, “she left” 

“Well I was going to say four but cripplingly loneliness works too!” He cackled, pages simi flapping around before settling again. 

“Hey, I'm not lonely!” she protested.

“Diana you’re talking to me” Jamack said coldly. He was taken back by the lack of snarky response from Diana. Instead Diana was just watching the teapot slowly boil, tiredness and sorrow washed over her eyes. Jamack sighed. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max ran around, chasing butterflies and other insects. She crouched down behind a large rock, getting ready to jump on the butterfly landed on top. Before she could do so a frog jumped out of her hair, eating the butterfly and landing on top of the rock. 

“HEY! Oh you!” Max said joyfully, picking the slimy animal up, “hmm you need a name HEY!” without waiting another second the frog hopped out of her hands, and began making its way back through the trees, “where are you going?” She asked following it.

It didn't take Max long to realize where the frog was headed. “Oooo no no” she quickly picked the frog up, “we don’t need to go back there” she placed the frog in her large pocket on the front of her overalls, while beginning to walk away. A moment later the frog hopped back out, again heading back towards Diana's cabin. 

“Hey no!” She picked it back up, “why do you want to go back?” She placed it back in her pocket,“It's just a boring witch and a boring house” She stated making their way away from the cabin. “Croak” 

“Yeah so, adults still suck”

“Ribbit”

“I can have fun on my own!!”

“Ribbit” 

“I do not like her!!” Max stomped the ground, determined to win this one sided argument, fighting every feeling inside her.

Max walked up to a large tree in what felt like the middle of the forest, “here I’ll show you all the places we can go without her!” She said as she began climbing up the large tree. As she made her way up her mind wandered back to the witch. She didn’t like her. Not at all. Even if she was the first person who didn’t automatically hate her for just being around. Just because she’s nice doesn’t make her ok. Even if she trusted her alone and didn’t yell at her. That was something no one had ever given Max. Trust. And even if being with Diana felt right. That didn’t matter. Not at all. 

Max made her way to the top of the tall pine in minutes. At the top of the tree she found a black card lodged between the small branches. It was the size of a normal note card, completely black on both sides. She picked it up, “huh”.

Max looked around the lush forest, taking note of the setting sun. In the far far distance she could see a sizable town. Other than that it was just pure forest in every other direction. It felt like it went on forever. “See look, we have so much to explore” Max said, though she didn’t seem very happy about it. She looked back down at the black card in her hand. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ok Ok slow down I didn’t sign up to be a therapist!”

“Well I didn’t sign up to be outcast with the worlds loudest spell book but not everyone gets what they want Jamack!” Diana shouted.

“Well it’s not like being around you is a piece of paper either Diana!”

“That's not even how the saying goes!!!” 

They both stopped bickering, hearing a scratching at the front door.

“Oh, I’d get that but I don't have legs”

“Be grateful you don’t or I’d break your knee caps” Diana snapped while getting the door. She opened the door to see a small white creature waiting patiently. In its mouth was an envelope. It dropped the letter, and took off into the bushes without giving Diana a chance to say anything. She picked up the letter and sure enough it was addressed to her, ‘Witch Diana Ruby’, “huh” Diana said closing the door and walking back to the table.

“Oh is it for me? I ordered an automatic knife launcher” Jamack said as Diana set the letter on the table, fully walking in front of Jamack. 

“What do you have on small white creatures?” Diana asked.

“Ugh” Jamack opened up, flipping through pages, “You’re gonna have to be more specific than that”

“All white, including small horns and tail, all fours, no bigger than a fox, black eyes” She described.

“Ah” Jamack landed on a page with an image of the creature, “A Demar, common demon pet, their spit is very useful for fire protection charms and potions, native to Hell”

Diana looked over the page, “A demon pet?” she asked again puzzled.

“Yeah, just said that-” He was cut off from a knock at the door, “ok that better by my knife launcher, I ordered two day shipping” 

“Ugh shut up” Diana said, getting the door again, opening it.

“Oh”

“Hi” Max said. 

“What are-”

“I want to stay here” Max said quickly, cutting Diana off, “I want to stay here, with you” She was uncharacteristically shy and quiet.

“Oh” Diana smiled, “Well if you really want to stay I do have a small spare room up-” She was cut off again by Max.

“Really?!” She bounced, her usual smile and enthusiasm returned.

“Of course” Diana was beyond happy to have Max return.

“Thank you!” Max ran up, hugging Diana the best she could with her short stature, catching the witch completely off guard, “thank you” she said quieter. 

Diana wrapped her arms around Max the best she could, “You’re welcome”.

They stayed like that for a minute, enjoying each other's simple embrace before a brash voice rudely interrupted, “sooooooo im going to take it that it’s not my knife launcher”.

“No, sorry” Diana said, laughing a bit.

Max backed up, breaking the warm embrace, “ooo who’s that?!” 

“Oh don't tell me that demon girl came back” Jamack said in a dreaded voice.

They walked fully inside, Diana closing the door as Max made her way to the source of the voice. “WHOA A TALKING BOOK!” she shouted, amazed.

“AAH A CHILD YOU DIDN’T SAY SHE WAS A CHILD” Jamack panicked. 

“No I'm sure I mentioned that, you’re just an awful therapist” She laughed walking over to see Jamack jumping up and down on the lectern, freaking out in the presents of Max.

“What are you? Who are you? How can you talk?” Max went off asking Jamack a million questions. As she did so Diana walked back over to the letter she put on the table before, now feeling compelled to open it. 

Inside was a simple folded piece of paper, and a loose black card. She opened the paper reading, “She’s alot, just be patient. If you need anything or run into trouble just call, Have fun - The doctor” Though the signature was almost unreadable. Taped to the paper was a simple business card with a number on it, “p.s I think this was sent to the wrong place” Diana assumed this was in reference to the black card. She set down the letter in favor of looking at the card. It was just a simple unremarkable card with no marking, black on both sides.

“Oh hey you already have one?” Max said, pulling away from Jamack noticing the card in Diana's hands, “I was gonna give this to you but you already got one” Max pulled out her own black card from her large pocket. Diana's eyes widened.

“Where did you get that?” 

“Found it on top of a tree, WHOA yours is so much cooler, mine doesn’t have anything cool like a pointy hat on it!” Max grabbed the card Diana had, looking it over. Diana picked up Max’s card.

“Huh” She looked at the card which had a simple set of demon wings on it, “weird”

“God both of you are blind! They are both black” Jamack angrily chimed in.

“You don't even have eyes!!” Max quickly snapped back.

“I have like 6 eyes, eyes are all I have!!!” Jamack bounced.

“Wow must suck not having hands” Max said sarcastically.

“OK listen here you little-”

“OOOKKAAY Max lets go set up your room upstairs!” Diana intercepted quickly, not wanting things to escalate between the two. 

“Ok!!!” Max said excitedly. They both placed the cards down on the table, then made their ways upstairs chatting along the way.

“When my knife launcher gets here she’s getting it first!!” 

“I canceled your order” Diana shouted back”

“DAMN IT” Jamack screamed back. 

Once the girls were upstairs the cards glowed their respective symbols, a pink witch hat, and purple demon wings, then disappeared without a trace. 

“Now how am I going to launch knifes?”


	5. The Room

Diana walked Max threw the small cabin, which consisted only of a few rooms. Right when you walked in was the living room, with a small set of stairs to the left. To the right not separated by any walls was a small kitchen. It had everything you needed, nothing more, nothing less. Adjacent to the kitchen as a small dining area with a large table and some chairs surrounded by bookshelves. The table had Jamack’s small lectern on top, along with other witchy items. 

They walked through the living room to the set of stairs, making their way upstairs. Upstairs was a small hallway with three doors, two leading to small rooms, and one leading to a bathroom. 

“Wow” Max exclaimed, “I didn’t think this place was so big”

“Big?” Diana questioned, “what on surface are you talking about?”

“It's got like layers and so many rooms!!!” Max explained, clearly in awe of the cabin.

Diana shrugged, “I guess” she half agreed. To her this cabin was tiny. That wasn’t bad at all, far from it actually. She enjoyed the simpler home compared to the ones she had lived in before. 

Diana walked up to one of the doors in the hallway, “anyway this can be your room!” she said, opening the door.

“WOW!!” Max was overjoyed at the sight.

Inside the small room were piles of junk and boxes, much like a storage room. It was dusty with some cobwebs scattered about. At the far wall was a window, with the moon's light now flowing in. In the state it is right now there wasn’t much room for anything, which wasn’t good because it was missing one important thing. A bed.

“You are easily impressed” Diana said quietly to herself while watching Max explore the messy space, “I know it’s not much and it’s full of my junk but tomorrow we can clean it up and make it yours” She cheerfully said. 

“Wait, mine?” Max asked, running back to Diana in the doorway, “like all mine?”

“Yes?” She said, confused.

“Wow, I’ve never had my own room before” Max said, looking around the space, taking it all in.

“Really? Didn’t you have a room back in Hell?” Diana asked.

“I did but I had to share it with like 15 billion others” Max explained, while starting to dig through some boxes, like she was looking for something.

“Oh that must have sucked”

“It did!! No one ever listened to me!!” She said, pulling a couple of old soft looking coats out of a box and tossing it on the floor, then she moved on to another box. 

“Huh, well come tomorrow we’ll have this cleaned out and it will be all yours!” Diana excitedly said. 

Max yawned, “That sounds great!” sleepiness clearly present in her voice. She was getting more and more tired with each passing minute. She kept pulling soft things like pillow cases, old blankets, some stuffed animals, old bed sheets, and old clothes out of boxes and tossing them all into a pile. Diana found it strange, but didn’t question it. She didn’t care about any of the things she was tossing around. 

“Oh” it dawned on Diana how late it had gotten, “Here I’ll go get you some pillows and blankets and you can sleep here”

“Ok” Max groggily replied, again throwing something else into the growing pile, as if on auto pilot.

Diana left to grab a pillow and blanket from her room next door. Not even being gone a minute she returned to find Max sleeping comfortably on the pile of soft things she had made. It was almost like a nest and Max was right in the middle, resting peacefully like a cat. 

“Ooooooooh my coven you’re so cute” Diana quietly said, but very much internally screaming at the sight. She walked over and carefully placed the blanket and pillow on the pile. She felt bad having Max sleep in a room full of junk but in her defense she didn’t know someone would be moving in today, even if some of these boxes are from when she moved in a couple of years ago. It's ok, tomorrow they’ll clean it out and make it an actual living space. 

“Good night Max” She smiled, turning the light off and softly closing the door. Just then her own wave of tiredness washed over her. It wasn’t that late, 10 o’clock at the latest, but today felt so long with everything that had happened before.

She made her way downstairs with full intent of just switching off the lights, however her simple plan was foiled from that awful familiar voice. 

“Ugh why are you letting her stay?” Jamack whined, “it's already crowded enough with you around” 

“Ok first, ouch” Diana spoke, walking over to the table, “and second, she has no were else to go. She was being hunted down by some other demons in the woods” 

“Eh the Hell guard will chase down anyone that goes to the surface unauthorized” Jamack explained.

“Well she was still running for a reason, besides aren’t you the least bit happy we have some new company?” She asked.

Jamack scoffed, “I was perfectly happy with the company I already had” 

“Aww does somebody actually tolerate me?” Diana teased.

“No” He said flatly, “besides you don’t know anything about demons, how do you expect to take care of a child one?”

“Uh” Diana hadn’t actually thought about that, “I'm sure it will all be fine, and if I need help I can call this guy” She held up the small business card she had gotten from the letter earlier that night. 

“God no, don’t call him, just ask me your demon questions instead” Jamack quickly said.

“Why? What’s wrong with him?”  
“Nothing. I just hate him.” 

“Oooooookay not going to touch that, i'm going to bed” She walked over picking Jamack up from his lectern.

“Wait it’s not even that late, I had so many more insults to-” He was cut off by Diana sliding him into the bookshelf, effectively putting him to sleep. After that she went around switching off the lights before finding her way to her room.

She quickly got into her nightly routine, changing into her pajamas and going into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Once done she walked back into her room to find Max sleeping in the corner on top of her soft pile of things, like she had pushed the whole thing in here just to sleep again. 

“Oh coven your adorable” Diana didn’t think anything of it, getting into her own bed and turning off the lights. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning air was everything she had dreamed it would be. It felt cool on her skin and fresh to breathe. Max loved it. She sat on the roof taking in every single moment of the morning. The birds sounded beautiful, the morning dew gave everything a brilliant shine, and the sun rise was just awe inspiring. She watched as the rays of the sun turned everything they touched into a soft golden colour as it consumed all in its path. She loved how the clouds danced in pink tones and how the sky’s dark blue slowly washed away to a lighter shade with every passing second, til the sun had finally fully risen. 

Max could stay here all day, watching the sun do its daily walk across the sky, but she had things to do today.

“Max!” She heard someone shout from inside the house. She quickly got up and climbed back through the open window into Diana's empty room. She walked downstairs to find Diana leaning at the kitchen counter in a simple robe and slippers with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Ugh” jamack groaned, already back out on his lectern for the day.

“See I told you she didn’t run away” Diana declared, in a proud ‘I told you so’ way, “where have you been?” She asked, taking a sip from her mug.

“Uhh” Max panicked in fear of getting in trouble, “around” she stammered, trying not to sound suspicious. 

“Well how long have you been awake?” Diana couldn’t really care what Max was up to, just as long as she didn’t get hurt. 

“Uuh” she had to think again, “I dunno, it was still kinda dark out”

“Oh wow” Diana said, clearly surprised “I didn’t think you’d wake up early”

“Yeah” Jamack chimed in, “I’ve never seen a demon wake up before noon” 

“Yeah well” Max was starting to get embarrassed, “It's just what I do” 

“It's ok, however I can not drag myself out of bed earlier than like 9:30, so you’ll probably have most mornings to yourself” Diana explained. 

“Oh it's ok, I'm used to that,” Max replied.

“I used to have every day alone” Jamack started, “those were the days”

“Well i'm going to go get dressed” Diana said, completely ignoring Jamacks comment, “Then we can get started cleaning up your room”

“ok!!!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two girls soon went to work, going through and sorting the contents of the boxes and the other various things around the room. Deciding what to keep in storage, what to take out of storage, and what to throw away. Though Diana was the one doing most of this sorting. Max was more or less in charge of taking out the trash, and over all just cleaning up. Cleaning out the cobwebs and relocating their inhabitants. However that didn’t mean Max wasn’t periodically looking through some boxes too, and one box in particular caught her eye.

“What’s this stuff?” She asked, digging through the contents.

“Oh” Diana walked over, “It’s a bunch of old toys of mine” She said, reminiscing about all the old stuff in the box.

The box was full of old toys such as wooden building blocks, a black stuffed cat and owl, and a small fake wand with a matching small broom, along with some high quality pieces to a doll house. With some other various toys sprinkled it, overall it was very unremarkable.

“You can have them if you want,” Diana offered.

Max’s eyes lit up, “Really?!” 

“Yeah, I’m not using them anymore” she smiled

“Cool!!!” Max moved the box to the corner of the room away from everything else before the both of them went back to work.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time they were done it was around 4 in the afternoon. While it had taken most of the day, and a few breaks, they had succeeded in cleaning out the room. The leftover stuff was now in Diana's closet or somewhere else in the house as decoration and the trash was gone. The only things left in the room now was Max’s nest of soft things, a simple rug, and the box of toys. However it was still clearly missing something. 

“You need a bed” Diana flatly stated. 

“What’cha mean, I got a bed!” Max said, pointing over to her nest pile. 

“No like a real bed, hmm” Diana began thinking, then it hit her. She walked over to the box of toys and began digging through it before pulling out a small wooden bunk bed a moment later.

“Uhh” Max was confused, “I know i'm not that big but even I think that's a little small”

“I know I know, hold on” Diana left, going down stairs, then returned a moment later, now with her wand and a bottle of some orange potion.

She walked over and placed the small bed on the ground against the wall, then dipped her wand in the potion bottle and began drawing some sort of symbol around the toy with the liquid. Once she was done she backed up next to Max, “Ok now watch”

A moment later the liquid on the ground began glowing, a second later the bed instantly grew in size, becoming a full usable bunk bed. Max ran over in excitement, and Diana was just relieved that it had worked first try. 

“That's so cool, how did you do that!?!?!” Max questioned in awe while climbing all over the bed.

“Oh you know, just comes with being a witch” Diana said trying to seem cool as she wiped off her wand, but ended up dropping it on the floor instead. “Here” she said while picking her wand back up, “I’ll go get some bed sheets” 

Diana returned a moment later with the item in question only to find Max once again sleeping on her nest of soft things that she had now moved onto the lower bunk.

“Ooooohhh sweet Salem, why are you so cute” She quietly said to herself. She placed the sheets on the top bunk with intent to put them on later, so Max could rest. She made her way downstairs to watch TV and relax for a bit. Before she could even find the remote that annoying voice just had to speak.

“Where’s Max?” Jamack asked, “oh wait don't tell me, she ran away!!”

“Ugh no” Diana rolled her eyes, “She’s upstairs taking a nap”

“Really?” I’ve never seen a demon that needs naps”

“Yeah well she’s also a kid and kids need sleep” Diana said, sitting down on the couch and switching on the TV.

“Ooh whatcha watching?” Jamack asked.

“Real housewives of none of your business” Diana snapped back.

“Oh! Is it the new season? Can I watch?” 

“UGH” Diana got back up, grabbed Jamack, and set him on the couch next to her.

“Aww wow does someone actually tolerate me?” jamack was quick to tease.

“No,” Diana said while shoving the book off the couch onto the ground.

“HEY” 

Diana burst out laughing.


	6. The nights

Max jolted awake, jumping up on her pile of old blankets and pillows, knocking her head on the top bunk above. She quickly looked around the dark room, eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness, all while taking deep panicked breaths. She rubbed her tired eyes, taking note of the sweat covering her body.

"Ugh gross" Max said quietly. She climbed out of bed, and began shaking herself off like a wet dog. She walked over to the window on the far end of the room to take a look at the dark sky outside. She sighed, "still night"

Max paced around her room, biting her nails, unsure of what to do next. This was the 4 time this happened this week, and it was only Thursday. She knew at this rate she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep in her own bed. While she loved having her own space, she wasn't used to sleeping alone yet, at least that is what she was blaming this on. Max rubbed her eyes again and began making her way to the door. She knew what she needed to do if she wanted to sleep again tonight.

She walked quietly down the dark hall. Carefully and quietly she opened the door. To Max's surprise Diana was already awake, sitting up in bed with the lamp on the nightstand on.

"Good morning Max" Diana spoke quietly, tiredness ever present in her voice.

"Oh, is it morning?" Max always felt guilty doing this.

"No it's" She glanced at the clock on the nightstand, "about 2:30 am" she finished with a yawn.

"Oh" Max looked down at the ground.

"Hey it's alright, I woke myself up" Diana tried to lift the mood, even if that was a lie. This had been the nightly routine for almost a month now. It was easy to expect Max at her door around this hour. Diana patted the end of the bed in front of her, "Come on" she said with a reassuring smile.

Max looked up, giving a small soft smile back. She closed the door and made her way over to the bed, trying not to feel bad. She jumped on the foot of the large bed. It was big enough for both of them to lay side by side no problem, but Max always curled up at the bottom like a dog or cat. Diana found that trying to get her into the bed properly was a futile effort, So she gave up trying a while ago, content with the small demon sleeping by her feet.

"Ok" Diana yawned, reaching for the lamp, "Good night Max"

"Good night," Max said quietly. With that Diana turned the light off.

Max quickly fell back asleep, clearly aided by the presents of the witch, as she was almost every night for a month now. Diana however didn't fall back asleep as fast, instead laying awake for a small bit thinking about Max. Her presents at the end of the bed didn't bother her at all, no, she was thinking about why Max was there in the first place.

She knew Max was having nightmares every night, that much was clear from the scream she could hear followed shortly after by Max appearing at her door. Diana didn't even begin to know why she might be having them or what they were about, but they seemed like the worst kind of nightmare. Worst of all Diana didn't even begin to know how to help. Every time she asked Max about the dreams she always said the same thing, "I don't remember".

'Maybe it's just a demon thing' Diana thought before drifting off to a worried sleep.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Really?" Jamack asked, puzzled.

"Yup," Diana said, pouring coffee into a mug and taking a sip, while Jamack just sat atop his Lectern on the table.

"Every night?" He asked again

"Pretty much"

"Hmmm" He paused, "well where is she now?"

"Still asleep upstairs, I think it's starting to get to her," Diana said with a worried tone, leaning against the counter looking at Jamack.

"Well nightmares every night for a month straight would get to anyone, demon or not" He stated matter of factly. Diana sighed in defeat.

"I just don't know what to do, I don't want her to keep going on like this" She took another sip from the mug.

"Oh I get it" Jamack started, "I wouldn't want a demon sleeping in my bed either"

"Hey its not that" She was quick to defend "Nightmares aren't fun for anyone to have, especially so frequently" It was hard not to feel bad for Max. Diana could tell Max had already been through alot already, she didn't deserve these restless nights. As for the bed thing Diana didn't much care. She only worried about accidentally kicking Max off the bed in the middle of the night.

"Mmhmm yeah" Jamack said in a judgmental tone.

Diana looked around the small kitchen, wondering what to do, eyes eventually landing on the fridge. She walked over and pulled a small business card off that had been held on by a magnet. It was a simple card, with just a phone number and a name, The Doctor. The one she got the day she met Max in the field. "Maybe I should call him" she pondered out loud.

"Oh for the love of Satan do not call that man!!" Jamack quickly and loudly protested jumping up and down on the lectern as he did so.

"Ugh why not? He seemed like a trustworthy guy, and if he's a doctor maybe he can help Max" Diana was willing to try anything.

"That guy is only as trustworthy as far as you can Hex him"

"That doesn't even-"

"Besides I can help just as much as that joke can"

"Oh yeah? What do you suppose I do?" Diana scoffed, very much doubtful of Jamack in every way. Jamack was barely reliable enough to read his own pages correctly.

"Simple" he started, "What's the one thing that keeps Max from having nightmares?"

Diana thought for a second, "I don't know, what?"

"You," Jamack answered.

"Me?" Diana was confused, "what do you mean?"

"Well she's not coming to me in the middle of the night looking for comfort is she?"

"True" Diana nodded along

"And she doesn't wake up again once asleep with you"

"Hmm also true" Diana agreed once more, taking a sip from her mug.

"Exactly!" Jamack sounded so proud of himself, "If there's anything you need to know about demons, it's that they are very emotional, you are clearly some type of emotional anchor"

"Ok now you lost me"

"Ugh" Jamack groaned, "you make the bad feelings go away and stay away, she feels safe around you"

"Ooooh, that makes sense"

"I know it does, try to keep up D" if he could he'd be rolling his eyes right now.

"Ok well what do I do about it? She can't sleep with me forever" Diana wondered.

"Exactly, give her something of yours, this isn't hard come on common sense" jamack was clearly getting more and more irritated.

"Something like what?"

"I dunno what do you think?"

"You know you don't have to-"

"Something that means a lot to you, brings happy memories, bonus points if it smells like you" He stated, cutting Diana off.

"Smells like me?" Now that really confused Diana.

"What? Demons have a strong sense of smell, it would only help"

"Huh" Diana paused thinking it all over, "You demons are weird, but that actually all makes sense"

"Rude- wait it does??" Jamack seemed surprised.

"Yeah, and I think I know just the thing to give her" Diana said confidently.

"Well i'm sure if it works she'll be sleeping good again in no time" he said happily.

"Yeah" diana paused, "since when do you care about Max?"

"I don't!!" Jamack quickly protested, "I just don't want anyone else sleeping in your bed"

"What?"

"Good morning" Max yawned as she walked into the kitchen, dark rings present around her eyes. It wasn't hard to tell she didn't sleep well.

"Oh wow look it's Max!!!! Let's pay attention to her-" He was cut off by a pink hand placed on his cover, followed by a deep growl and a sharp glare.

"Wow someone's grumpy- ok what are you doing?" Max picked Jamack up off the table, and walked over to the far side of the kitchen. Jamack watched helplessly as Max opened the window, "oh wow what is it? Not even 10 yet? That's a new record-" Max quickly lobbed the large leather back book out the window, effortlessly tossing it over the trees, across the forest out of site.

Diana took another sip from her mug, trying her best not to laugh, "well looks like im not doing magic today" she smirked.

"Oh" Max closed the window, looking over at Diana with a sting of guilt on her tired face, "im sorry, I didn't-"

"Im joking" Diana cut her off with a light hearted smile, "He was being a bi-" she stopped herself.

"A bitch" Max finished for her.

"Hey, language!" Diana lightly snapped.

"Hey at least I didn't break the window this time"

Diana laughed finishing off her coffee, "true"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day was nothing but slow. The month of restless nights had finally all caught up with Max, leaving her groggy and grumpy all day up until the night. She spent most the day inside which was a first, opting to just lay on the ground while the tv went on instead of exploring the forest like usual. Max was just too tired to do much of anything, while Diana went about her usual business, without the aid of jamack of course, checking in on Max every now and then until eventually it was nearing bed time.

Diana went digging through her closet looking for one specific box. "Ah ha!" She said to herself, locating the box under a pile of old laundry and pulling it out onto the bed. She began looking through its contents, reminiscing about all the things inside til eventually she found exactly what she was looking for. The items in question being a simple black cat stuffed animal and a matching hand stitched blanket with various black cats embroidered on it. She took a long look at both items, unclear about which she should give to Max while also wondering out loud to herself "Why was it always black cats?"

She shrugged it off and decided it wouldn't hurt to just give both of them over, but the real question now was how was she going to give them. It wasn't going to be nearly as easy as just handing them over, no, Max tended to turn down rather "kiddy" stuff when offered, always protesting with "ew gross i'm not a baby". Diana began to think that maybe she could just place them on her bed and Max wouldn't notice. Giving it to her without giving it to her. Perfect.

Diana looked down the hall and saw the closed bathroom door. Max was still inside getting ready for bed, the perfect opportunity to sneak and just place the things on the top bunk of Max's bed. Which is exactly what she did. She was about to leave before she ran into Max.

"Oh hi Diana" Max groggily said walking into her room, "whatcha doing?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, just wanted to say goodnight to my favorite demon!" She smiled, technically the truth.

"I'm your only demon" Max flatly replied.

"Hey not true, Jamack is a demon" Diana replied

"He's not here"

"Well sadly he'll be back to- you know that doesnt matter, your still my favorite!" Diana proclaimed, scooping Max up in her arms into a hug.

"Ugh gross" Max protested, but did little to get out of the situation

"Good night"

"Meh goodnight"

"Sleep good," Diana said, placing Max back down.

Max groaned, "yeah" she was doubtful of that.

"I know you will" Diana reassured her, even if she didn't know for sure, she was praying that maybe just having the items near the bed would help. She made her way out of the room closing the door behind her before making her way down the hall to her own bed.

Now on her own Max immediately climbed up the bed to find whatever Diana had placed there. She quickly found the out of place blanket and stuffed animal, tossing them on the ground below before following shortly after. Taking a closer look at the stuffed cat and blanket she wondered out loud to herself "what's with witches and cats? Especially black ones?"

She began to wonder why Diana would give these to her. Max knew Diana knew she didn't like this kid stuff. She was about to toss the things aside to the other side of the room, however something kept her from tossing them. She didn't know what. She took another look at the items in her hands.

"Mmmm"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diana woke up later in the night, however not to the usual scream that would, no she woke up on her own this time. As if her body was expecting to be woken up anyway. She checked her clock, 2:15. This would normally be around the time Max would wake up and come into her room.

"Hmm" she began wondering what to do while rubbing her eyes, deciding to go check on Max instead of just waiting this time. She made her way down the hall and carefully and quietly opened max's door. She didn't know what she expected but it wasn't what she saw.

Max was sleeping on her usual nest of blankets and pillows, however now with the old cat blanket draped over the top of the pile. In Max's arms was the simple stuffed cat toy. It was clutched tightly in her grip noticeable near her face, covering her nose. She was perfectly nested and for the first time in weeks getting uninterrupted sleep.

Diana tried her best not to make any noise at the adorable site all the while thinking 'wow that joke of a book was actually right'. More importantly she was happy Max actually took to the old toys instead of just tossing them aside, and that they were actually helping. With relief washed over her body Diana made her way back to her own room to get back to bed.

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Diana walked downstairs to the kitchen to get her usual cup of morning coffee, however before she could even think about it a familiar voice had to pipe up.

"Hey!!!" The voice practically shouted, "Did you miss me?" he sounded a little more than pissy.

"Ugh hardly" Diana coldly replied, still heading for the kitchen, "how was your day?"

"Oh you know it was just great" Jamack started, "after being thrown by that rat with thumbs I landed in a tree where a hawk picked me up then eventually dropped me into the river where I tumbled til my corners started to round all the while getting nibbled on by fish and some beavers who tried to use me for a damn but tossed me because I didn't have the right shape. After floating along a little more a bear picked me up and took me to its den to try to feed me to its cubs"

"Oh is that all?" Diana pretended to sound interested in the story as she went about making a pot of coffee. This didn't surprise her at all, no matter what you did to Jamack the next day he would always be back on his lectern brand new. Part of the curse she guessed.

"Oh that's just what happened before noon" Jamack went off, "but we can talk about that later, how's Max? Did you try what I suggested?"

"You know I actually did" Diana said leaning against the counter waiting for her coffee to finish brewing, "She didn't come into my room at all and actually took to the items I gave her"

"Really?" he sounded so surprised, "what did you give her?"

"Just some old childhood toys, they were my favorite back in the day" Diana smiled, remembering all the good times she had with them when she was younger.

"Wow that's so sweet, I might just shed a tear, oh wait I can't-"

Diana cut him off, placing a hand on his over, "its to early in the morning for this"

"Hey wait a second" Jamack began thinking, "I was right!! HAHA take that doctor my ass I was right!!!!"

"Mmhmm"

"Wait what are you doing?" Jamack asked in a panic

Diana had picked him up again, taking him to the open window.

"Oh realy? realy??" He pleaded

Diana rolled her eyes saying "baby" before dropping him on the ground outside under the window.

"Oh, oh this isn't that bad oh wait no here come the racoons"

Diana walked back to the fresh pot of coffee pouring herself a mug as Max walked downstairs, "good morning"

"Good morning!" Max happily replied. She looked around noticing the lack of back talking books, "where's Jamack?"

"Oh he's out running a marathon with his super strong legs"

"I can still hear you!!!-ow careful with the pages you overgrown rat pigeons!!" He screamed back at the racoons, before being carried off into the forest by the gaze, "I'll get you both for this when I get back!!!" 

"yeah Im sure you will" Diana laughed looking out the window.

"Well he'll have a fun day" Max laughed, watching it all unfold from the window as well.

"Yup, yesterday he met a bear," Diana said, taking a drink from her mug.

"What! No fair!" Max protested, "I want to meet a bear"


End file.
